UN refugee agency calls on US to end asylum restrictions

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. refugee agency has made an unusual plea for the Biden administration to lift pandemic-related restrictions on people seeking asylum in the United States. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi on Thursday asked for an end to so-called Title 42 authority. It’s named for a section of an obscure 1944 U.S. public health law that former President Donald Trump used last year to effectively end asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. President Joe Biden has kept the policy in place, though he exempted children traveling alone. Grandi says protecting public health and the right to seek asylum are “fully compatible.”